Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

My favorite part of the day

Mornings are my favorite part of the day, there is nothing better than watching the sun come up while drinking a cup of coffee. I also love to get up early to get my workout in before taking on the rest of the day. On days I do sleep in I feel out of sorts the rest of the day, like I have wasted half the day and am running behind. Being such a morning person helps me get my morning workouts in but makes evening workouts, like masters swimming tonight difficult for me. If I had my way I would have the early bird special of dinner at 5pm and in bed no later than 9pm.

Are you a morning person, if not how do you motivate yourself to get through morning workouts?

I was feeling super uninspired about breakfast this morning, my normal variations on oatmeal are getting really old so I decided to break out the blender and make myself a green monster. This morning I decided to keep things simple:

  • 1 banana
  • a couple handfuls of spinach
  • 1 cup of vanilla soy milk
  • 1 scoop a vanilla whey protein
  • 1 tablespoon of chia seeds

I threw thew this all in the blender and let it run for two minutes.
Then I added about two cups of ice, blended for another thirty seconds and I had a great banana breakfast shake.
I love green monsters because it’s one of the only ways that I get vegetables into my breakfast. This was the first time I have included chia seeds, I think I could taste them a little but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was a great way to start my day!

Do you have ways you like to get vegetables into your diet?

Weekly training plans and food

I realized I haven’t posted my weekly training plan in a while so here is my week:

Monday: 35 mile ride
Tuesday: am interval swim 2500 meters, pm interval run approx. 5 miles
Wednesday: am 36 mile ride, pm yoga
Thursday: am: 6 mile run, pm masters swim
Friday: strength training
Saturday: 18 mile trail run ( must find easier trail so it won’t take me 8 hours)
Sunday: open water swim 1.5 miles and Ride 55 miles

I will take everyone’s advice and just try to suck it up buttercup on the heat, I grew up in Portland so this Colorado heat gets to me sometimes and I become a giant whiney baby about it.

Ironman update: Ironman Mont Tremblant is now full so it won’t be an option for me in 2012, so I think I will try for IM Canada if I can’t get into that then I will just have to decide between Vineman and Ironman CDA, I can’t wait to sign up!

Last I want to talk about FOOD! I love to eat and TRY to eat healthy foods. I pack my lunch and take it to work everyday. I tend to eat the same things with little variation, here is my lunch for today:

Salad with strawberries, blue cheese and walnuts
Some kind of fruit today includes watermelon and an apple
Greek yogurt with fruit today I cut up a white peach
And some type of vegetable today is a red pepper

Anyone have any suggestion for variety? Keep in mind I am cheap, lazy and a vegetarian…..you can see why this is difficult 🙂

Back to Work

It feels pretty good to be “back to work” I don’t mean my big girl job I mean real work on triathlon. This weekend included a very difficult 16 mile trail run (don’t ask how long it took me!) but it was beautiful. Yesterday we set out for 57 mile bike ride but cut it to only 30 miles because my knee started hurting and I don’t want to risk injury at this point. I was also struggling with the upper 90 degree heat. Anyone have any suggestions for getting better dealing with the heat?

I tried to make sure that I took care of my body after each workout with ice baths, stretching and rolling.

This morning started with a interval swim workout. I haven’t been in the pool for a long time, and it felt great. The workout look like this:

500 sw, 200k, 100 sw …………800 yds
Stroke Drill ……………………….500 yds
10 x 100’s sw-15″ rbet. ea. .1000 yds
200 swim down real easy …..200 yds
Total………………………………2500 yds

My body feels better after swimming and I hope that I will be able to put some real work in tonight at track practice. Our workout look likes this:

Warm up – Easy jog for 5-10 minutes
Dynamic Warm up
Interval Set

• 1×1600; 3’ rec
• 2×800; 2’ rec
• 3×400; 1’ rec
• 4×200; 30” rec

On a different note I have been having watch issues:

This is the second timex “waterproof” watch that I have had fill with water. The first time I didn’t mind too much because it was fairly cheap from target but I am really frustrated that this one is fogging up because it was a more expensive model with a heart rate monitor. I HATE not having a watch. I have had this one less than a year. Anyone have any suggestions or a watch brad that has really worked for them?

Last I want to share some of the swag from Pacific crest half Ironman.

Close up of the medal:


Everyone received a tech t-shirt, bag and medal. You could purchase a finishers T-shirt with the race that you completed on it. I decided not to buy it because we had already spent so much on this race plus it said “sea level is for sissies, ALT 4,200 ft. Living in Denver I think I would get laughed given that we race anywhere from 5,000-10,000 ft.

Wow that was a really random post, this is what happens when I compose a blog post in my head while swimming. Happy Tuesday everyone!


Ironman Questions

This week has been free form workouts while recovering from Pacific Crest. Including some strength training and yoga. Winston even got into the action with some Doga, he considers chewing a full body workout. I also had time to map out a training schedule for July that will focus on maintaining triathlon distance and build speed as well as getting in some miles for our ultra marathon in August including a 16 mile trail run tomorrow and a 50 mile bike ride on Monday.

I had my heart set on completing ironman Coeur d’Alene in 2012, and registration is now open. It is SO tempting to just sign up for it and know that my ironman journey is underway. It’s just like me to jump the gun on something big like this. While in Sunriver last week Cory and I spent a lot of time talking about doing an ironman and which one we should do. After looking at the new Mont-Tremblant ironman and Ironman Canada I am wavering a bit. Also The unincorporated Vineman iron distance race has been thrown out as an option as well.

Does anyone have an experience with these races or advice?

Both Coeur d’Alene and Mont-Tremblant are open now and I don’t want to lose out on registering but Canada seems the most interesting but I think it may be really hard to get into. When faced with a big choice we made a list of pros and cons like a good analytical thinkers.

Ironman Mont-Tremblant
(Quebec)

Pros

  • Beautiful course
  • Single loop swim
  • Mid season (August 19th)
  • Inaugural year
  • Available to sign up

Cons

  • (Possibly) challenging climbs on bike course
  • Two loop bike
  • Two loop run
  • Farthest away
  • Inaugural year
  • Most expensive ($675)

Ironman Canada (BC)

Pros

  • Beautiful course
  • Close-ish
  • All single loops
  • Mid season August 28th
  • $650 ?

Cons

  • Challenging climbs on bike course
  • Hard to get into

Vineman (Sonoma)

Pros

  • Beautiful course
  • Mid season (July 30th)
  • Easy course
  • Close
  • Available to sign up
  • Cheap ($325-$425)
  • Warm swim
  • Small field

Cons

  • Two loop swim
  • Two loop bike
  • Three loop run
  • Un-incorporated event (this may be a pro?)

Ironman Couer d’Alene


Pros

  • Beautiful course
  • Close to Colorado
  • Bike not too difficult
  • Relatively easy to get into
  • $600

Cons

  • Early season
  • Two loop swim
  • Two loop bike
  • Two loop run

Any advice, what would you do?


Resolution six month check in

It’s back to reality (work) for me today and it was a crazy eleven hour day. I have still not worked out since my race on Saturday, I hope to get some strength training in tonight and a run in tomorrow morning before heading to a twelve hour day at work tomorrow, good thing I like my job!

I decided that since since it’s almost the end of June I should revisit the resolutions/goals I set back in January to see how I am doing and get motivated to reach all of them in the next six months.

2011 resolutions:

1. Prepare more healthy meals (Cory is our main cook, I would like to start cooking about twice a week) I consider this one done =) I have been cooking more and have learned to prepare a few healthy vegetarian dishes, win!

2. Work on my core, I know my core is weaker than it should be so I plan on doing plank every night in January and will move on from there Crap, not at all, need to get on this one, tonight!

3. I would like to PR in a 5k, 5M, 10k, half marathon and marathon. This should be easy given that last year was my first year racing and I only ran one (maybe 2) of each race and I have never ran a marathon, guaranteed PR =) PRed in the 10M, half marathon and full, I haven’t ran a 5k, 5M this year and my 10k was in an Olympic tri, no PR there.

4. Work on sticking to my training plan. I know there are times I won’t be able to stick to it because of outside influences, but when I just don’t feel like it, suck it up! So far so ok, still work to be done on this one

5. Take off a few pounds (10-15) I am not technically “over weight” but I know that being lighter will be easier on my joints. taken off about 5 so far.

6. Be better about blogging (i.e. more consistent, better pictures, etc.) lots of work to be done here

7. Run 1,000+ miles about 605 miles so far, as long as I don’t get an injury I should make it =)

Overall I am happy with my progress. The first 6 months of this year have been good and have included my first marathon and half ironman. Now my focus is shifting a bit to maintenance of the swim/bike distance, speed and ramping up my running miles for my ultra marathon in August.

How are your resolutions/goals going?

Pacific Crest Half Ironman Race Report

Pacific Crest was the best supported race I have ever participated in. The volunteers were great and the course was the most beautiful I have ever seen. I had the best time, I would do it again this weekend if I could. Not everything went perfect but that’s to be expected, now I can focus on getting faster.

Sunriver really welcomes Pac Crest athletes. On Friday Cory and I headed down to athletes village to pick up our race packets.

Before heading up to T1 to drop off our bikes and swim in Wickiup reservoir. The water was a bit chilly but not to cold.

This race required a lot of prep because the bike is a point to point course so there are two transition zones. Also to cut down on traffic you have to take your bike to T1 the day before.

We then headed down to T2 to claim our transition spot. We waited until Saturday morning to set up the rest of our stuff.

With all the set up done we headed back to my parents house to pack the rest of our stuff in bags and eat a delicious carb heavy dinner compliments of my mom.

Saturday morning wake up call was fairly late compared to other races but we were up at 5 am drinking coffee, eating steel cut oats and hydrating. I packed a cliff bar to eat closer to start time. I ended up not eating it and wished that I had.

Mom and dad drove us to T2 so we could set out our running shoes, race belts, etc. before jumping on a nice tour bus to head up to Wickiup. About 25 minutes into the ride another participant came to the front of the bus to let the driver know that we were going the wrong way! I am so glad someone was paying attention, we finally got the driver headed the correct direction but a 40 minute bus ride took over an hour. Thank god there was a bathroom on the bus! We got to T1 later than I would have liked but I still had plenty of time to finish setting up my bike getting my wetsuit on and going for a very short warm up swim.

My wave started 1 minute after the elite athletes. I was grouped with all men and women 30-35, I was a little intimidated to start with the men so immediately after the elite athletes started I moved to the back inside of my group. They were serious about our 9:01 start time and I barely had time to get my face wet to make sure my goggles were still sealed before the horn sounded and we were off. I made sure to start off slow and steady, I am so glad that I did because I didn’t have any breathing problems and felt great. It was a little hard to spot for the first two sections because we were looking into the sun but after the second turn it was easier. I was constantly surrounded by lots of people and it was sometimes hard to keep a smooth rhythm. I never drafted off anyone, I think that is something I want to work on. I came out of the water at 46:34, slower than I would have liked and HUNGRY, I really should have eaten again before the race started. T1 was also slow, you have to bag up all your stuff so they can transport it back to Sunriver for you and I also took the time to put sunscreen on before leaving. T1 time was 3:44.

The bike portion is very difficult but beautiful. I would like to say that I enjoyed the scenery but I was in fairly intense pain from mile 4 to mile 58. My left knee had stabbing pain in it was well as a burning sensation in my IT band. I have never had pain like that on the bike, I have no idea why it happened, I thought about quitting many times and ended riding way slower than I know I could have. We also hit a huge head wind on the last 15 miles. I could barley walk my bike into transition my knee was hurting so bad. Bike time was 4:04:46, I had almost decided that I was going to quit at T2 and just move on knowing it wasn’t my day. I racked my bike and slowly put on my running shoes and downed 4 advil. At this point I decided I would at least get to my parents who were waiting for me at about mile 2.5 of the run, otherwise I don’t know how I would have let them know to come get me. T2 was 5:27 (yikes, you can tell I wasn’t thinking abut racing at this point).

I took off on the run and it hurt and my mood was super low. But with every step I took it hurt a little less, I don’t know if it was the advil or just different motion but by mile 1 I didn’t have any more pain and was feeling great. By the time I got to my parents at mile 2.5 I was sure that I could finish. I think this half marathon was my best ever, it may be the slowest one I have ever ran but I had the best time. I walked at every aid station and took fluids but ran the rest of the way. I talked to the other competitors and thanked every volunteer, in my head I was having party and everyone was invited. Around mile 9 I started getting the chills, I definitely wasn’t cold I think my body was just having a hard time regulating it’s temperature. Run time was 2:30, yes it was slow but I am happy with that time.

We saw my parents at mile 6 and then again at mile 13. When I turned the corner to run down the finish shoot I was emotional and overcome that I was actually finishing. I was proud and happy and floating on a runners high. Over all time was 7:30:33.

Thoughts after completing my first half ironman are that I loved it and can’t wait to do it again in September. I am going to spend more time in the saddle and work on speed, my goal is to finish in less than 7 hours next time.


We did it!

72.3 miles (the bike course was 58 miles long) and five years of marriage.

Full race report later now we need to eat, rest and recover =)

Anniversaries

I have a few anniversaries today but I will start with the most important one.

Exactly five years ago today I married my best friend, love of my life and partner in crime.




We had a beautiful day and a blessed life since June 24, 2006. I love you Cory, I can’t wait to see what the next five years bring.

Other anniversaries today have to do with my blog, it turn one year old today! I think I posted once a month or less at first but mainly I was enjoying reading other people’s blogs. Completely unintentionally this is also my 100th post, I think that it means that today will be an extra lucky day. I hope that luck spills over to tomorrow and I have some “race day Magic” as Beth would say.

How Anal Can I Be

I am pretty anal about race prep and the fact that I have the week off before this race makes it very easy to be even more anal about it. I even planned the day before the race out hour by hour. I didn’t do this for my marathon in May and ended up very stressed and running around the night before. I don’t want to do that again!

I love to make lists and lay things out in piles. Here are my piles for race day including piles for pre race, t1, t2, special needs and post race

I also planned out and bagged my nutrition for the day.

This is what I did for most of today, planned and prepped, tomorrow is also full of pre race activities. We did sneak in a 3 mile run with my mom to preview the 5k course and a two mile walk to the store. We saw the welcome sign for athletes and had to get a picture.

But the best part of the day was buying this super cute new tumbler with the best almond iced coffee ever!

Tonight will be filled with relaxation and going over plans for Saturday

How anal are you when prepping for races?


Bend day trippin

Yesterday was spent running some errands to Bend, walking the dogs, eating lots and relaxing. This is the best way to prep for a big race. While in Bend we stopped for lunch at McMenamins, this chain of restaurants is my favorite and I love visiting them any time I am in the north west.

We sat outside with perfect weather

I started off with the Bees Knees cocktail, it was SO good and SO strong!

Cory had a BBQ pizza and a hard cider

I had white cheddar Mac n’ cheese, the food was amazing as usual.

Other stops in Bend included a running store so mom could buy new running shoes. I had fun analyzing mom’s gait and stride and basically acting like a know-it-all. Next we headed to Trader Joes, the grocery store and a nursey. Overall it was a fun trip. Later we took all the dogs for a quick walk and saw some of the preparations for this weekends races.

Bailey checking out the chalk markings.

Our family of five by the 2 mile sign for the half ironman

We ended up walking to park where Gus showed off his tether ball skills, it was one of the cutest things I have seen.

Although Daisy thought SHE was cuter!

Pacific Crest has events start on Friday with some fun kids events. The longer distances run on Saturday with a long course tri and du, half marathon and full marathon. The full marathon is a two loop course, in my opinion that would be the worst, props to anyone who has the mental toughness to complete that. On Sunday there is an olympic tri and du, 10k and 5k races. Mom will compete in the 5k this year. I am impressed with

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